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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Chordie's Chat Corner → Who Influenced You The Most
Who Influenced the way you play the most? For me it is an has always been Andrés Segovia. Without what he did people like me would not be playing true classical guitar.
I feel envious of anyone that can play classic guitar because I can't, even what I do play is below standard.
My influences began with Burt Weedon, Tommy Steel, the Beatles, Hendrix, Steve Howe, Jeff Beck and so many others that I wish I had a fraction of their talents.
I have worked a lot of years to get where I am how with classical guitar. Frankly I am envious of many steel string players that are great and Flying Fingers posts often remind me how good they are on steel strings and Phill I have read your posts and your experience often comes out.
One of my first albums was `sweet baby james`
i just loved the sound of the acoustic on it.
It took me 40 yrs to have a go @ guitar,of course
i never played very well,but it was probably my first influence.
Other than that i guess i`m influenced by everything i`ve ever heard.
The two guitarists who have influenced my style of playing most are Ian Anderson (acoustic) and Alex Lifeson (electric). I'd be the first to admit that neither of them are nowhere near the best guitarists out there, but their style ... with an emphasis on feel more than sheer skill / speed ... are what I like. And of course honorable mention goes to David Gilmour, for the same reason.
Playing style wise, the persons who influence me most are Mississippi John Hurt, Merle Travis, and Johnny Cash.
Inspiration wise, the persons who influence me and inspire me most are my friends. Dirty Ed, Topdown, Topdawgz, Garuchi, my next door neighbor, Southpaw. All the folks who are there and who I can send a text or a clip to or sit down with and work something out.
Had it not been for Neil Young I would probably never had picked up a guitar. Although not technically the best guitarist in the world he has a sound that is unique.
I had to look Mississippi John Hurt and now know why. Neil Young has unique sound and style and his influence is very good. sweet baby james by JJames Taylor is a great choice. James Taylor took guitar lessons for several years to develop his unique style. On his website he now has several lessons and they are interesting. Here is a link to his site: https://www.jamestaylor.com/guitar-lessons/
Great question. Impossible to narrow it down!
Early in my music career, it was the blues greats. Anyone with a last name King, SRV, Jimi. In college, I learned about Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Pat Matheny. Then I started writing music and learned from JT, Paul Simon, Carly Simon, and many others.
More recently (the last decade) I've focused on jam band music so I've been influenced by Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, and Trey A. Also the sick modern blues players like Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, and John Mayer.
And also the great local/regional players I used to gig with/open for back in Chicago. Chico Banks (taken way too soon, RIP). Biscuit Miller (Who still gigs out Topdown's way from time to time). Stan Skibby.
It's difficult to answer this question concisely.
I don't know that there is anyone that "influenced" me. When I started playing at 22, I just wanted to be able to play songs and it didn't matter to me if it sounded exactly like the original artist.
I was more "inspired" to be able to play. And not surprisingly, to anyone that knows me, Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead were the ones that inspired me to hunker down and get serious about playing. Some of their more complex songs pushed me to learn more chords, different ways to play each chord and putting it all together so it somewhat resembled the original. But I've always been one to play a song the way it "felt" to me. As some of the folks around here know, my version of City of New Orleans doesn't sound like Steve Goodman, Willie Nelson or Arlo Guthrie. You will certainly recognize it but it's my own rendition.
I started out playing/teaching drums but after my initial teen-age fascination with rock "groups" in the 60's it was my attraction to the works of "singer/songwriters" that inspired me to try to play guitar. Early on it was John Denver's and Gordon Lightfoot's styles of playing that influenced the way I played. About the same time I really got hooked on listening to bluegrass music. I've never been talented enough to play bluegrass lead licks but I incorporated the bluegrass style of doing bass runs and short licks between chord changes to my "folkie" style of playing, so I guess you could say I now play in a sort of Folk/Americana/Bluegrass style.
DE
I forgot Ramblin' Jack Elliott. In particular I've borrowed his pattern based fingerpicking and singing not quite at the same speed. The latter part wasn't on purpose.
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